Rody: Colombia’s Gaviria ‘stupid’

MANILA, Philippines -  After calling former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria an idiot, President Duterte now calls him a fool.

“This ex-president of Colombia, he said, ‘Duterte is committing the same mistake.’ We can never (make) the same mistake because I am not (as) stupid as you are,” Duterte said yesterday in a business forum in Davao City.

Duterte slammed Gaviria,  whose campaign against illegal drugs led to the neutralization of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

“That (mistake) is only possible, Mr. ex-president, if I am stupid as you,” he said.

Gaviria gave Duterte unsolicited advice not to commit the same mistakes he had regarding his anti-drug campaign.

In Colombia, the government is fighting the farmers, who are apparently engaged in the planting of marijuana.

Duterte said the case is different in the Philippines, which has been plagued with shabu. 

Duterte said the situation in Colombia is unlike that in the Philippines where foreign drug operators would use old ships to cook shabu then dump the drugs in the country’s shores.

“China has a problem also with drugs,” he said.

Duterte reiterated he is keen on stopping the drug menace in the country to save the youth and the next generation.  

“Drugs must stop for the sake of the Filipino people. Mine is to preserve the nation. I will do anything, even rot in jail, to save my country,” he said.

In his speech, Duterte mentioned how the United States played a role in fighting the drug problem in Colombia.

“The American government poured in billions to control the drug trade because they (Colombia) were flooding America with (drugs)... all the supplies of cocaine and heroin came from that country. What did America do in our country? Except to recommend for my prosecution in the International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court?” Duterte said.

Magnitude

In the same speech, Duterte said anew that he learned about the magnitude of the drug problem only when he was elected President.

He said he has issued the same warning when he was Davao City mayor – that he will kill the drug lords if they do not stop their illegal operations in the city.

He mentioned again Sen. Leila de Lima as a narco politician and lambasted her for alleged links to drug lords.

“For the highest official to be corrupted and she was corrupting everybody there in the justice department. The truth hurts,” he said.

Amid concerns about human rights violations, Duterte said he did not order the police or the military to resort to extrajudicial killings in his intensified drive against drugs.